Analysis Of Anna Sewell's Black Beauty

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In 1877, during the few remaining years of her life, Anna Sewell published her first book, Black Beauty. Originally, Black Beauty was targeted towards adults. Sewell wanted her book to send out a powerful message about horse rights. However, in the end it has become a classic novel for youth and is beloved by generations of children (“How ‘Black Beauty’”).
When Sewell was in the process writing Black Beauty, as aforementioned, she intended the novel to send out an impactful message about animal rights, in particular horses. Sewell hoped that Black Beauty would do for horse rights as Uncle Tom’s Cabin had done for slavery. In the end, she did attain her aim. American activists brought the book back to the United States, and the book spread …show more content…

One of these practices is called soring. Soring is a painful procedure for the purpose of showing off a horse’s gait. One sores by applying or injecting chemical or mechanical irritants on a horse’s foreleg (“Horse Soring”). The book Black Beauty placed a negative connotation on this practice and through this many people discovered the horrible lengths that people would go through in order for a horse’s gait to look presentable.
Another practice that Black Beauty impacted was the bearing rein. Bearing rein is a strap used to pull a horse’s head into its chest to force the appearance of an arch in its neck (“How ‘Black Beauty’”). The bearing rein was used to obtain a highly desired look in aristocratic society, however it was extremely painful for horses. One of the reasons that it was so detrimental to horses was because the unnatural arch incapacitated the horse and usually lead to respiratory issues. In addition, when the bearing rein strap is attached, horses cannot use their muscles correctly or breath …show more content…

Many people were oblivious to what a bearing rein was, and for the majority of people who did know what it was, they weren’t aware of the detrimental effects and pain that it caused to horses. During the time of the book’s release, many people were ignorant. This includes the pain that all animals, including horses, faced to please society (“How ‘Black Beauty’”).
In addition, one of the other practices that Black Beauty placed a harsh light on was docking. Docking is when someone amputates the distal bony part of the limbs. This causes a horse’s tail to look shorter, solely for aesthetical purposes. This creates an issue because horses normally use their naturally long tails in order to get gnats and flies off of them. However, when a horse has a short tail, they are unable to accomplish this.
Moreover, this is an issue for whoever is using the horse. Instead of focusing completely on the task, the horse will end up being bothered by all the bugs biting at them with no way to get them off. This could cause the horse to momentarily lose focus and

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